Returning the Favor
by Msynergy
Summary: After "Penance," Henry decides to return the favor. Companion piece to "Bonding and Beef Jerky."


_Returning the Favor_

**Disclaimer:** I wish, but no, I don't own the characters/show.

**Spoilers:** Season 2's "Penance."

**Author's Note:** So I decided to have a go at writing a companion piece to "Bonding and Beef Jerky," this is the result. Enjoy!

The Doc hadn't been gone for long when she heard another knock on her door.

"If that's you Sasquatch, I'm not hungry!" she called from the bed.

The talk with Magnus had left her feeling more drained than ever, and definitely not up for dealing with the hairy butler's form of TLC. New she may still be, but she'd seen the Big Guy work his magic on Will after his run-in with the Adjuster, and had also heard from said shrink that he wasn't above pushing nourishment on the infirmed.

"Dude, if he's trying to force feed you you're practically one of the family," Henry laughed, pushing his way through the door as he juggled a tablet and what she quickly realized were several bags of beef jerky and a pack of energy drinks.

"Well, he hasn't tried yet so I guess I've got a ways to go," she sighed, wondering how best to kick him out even as he placed his trove on the coffee table and moved to push a cushy armchair to her bedside. Being shot really put a damper on her favorite option of physical force.

"Nah, you're closer than you think, why else do you think I'm here?" he smiled as he plopped down into his new seat.

"You mean besides just to bug the hell out of me?"

"Well, there's that," he shrugged unapologetically, causing her to roll her eyes as she shifted for a more comfortable position. Mid-movement, however, she managed to bump her arm against the headboard, and nearly saw stars as she hit the pillows once more.

"Hey, easy there! You got shot remember? Sheesh."

She hears him through the pain, but is too busy trying to swear in every language she can think of so she won't pass out. A larger hand grasps her smaller good one, and she squeezes it without a second thought, finally feeling the sharp splintering sensation drift back to the dull throb it'd been before.

"Damn, Kate, didn't Doc give you something for the pain?"

She decides she must be so tired and hurt that she's started to hallucinate, because never had she ever heard him use that tone with her before, much less hold her hand.

"Yeah, she offered, but I didn't want anything stronger than ibuprofen."

"Are you serious? You got shot, got the bullet knifed out of you, sat there for hours untreated, and you still didn't want real pain killers?"

"They make you lose your focus, let your guard down, I didn't want that," she huffed, pulling her hand from his in defiance and glaring at him as best as she could from her prostrate position.

He looks as if he's about to argue with her more, but then something changes, shifts in his eyes, and she's thrown. What was that?

"Hank?"

And just like that, it's gone.

"Huh? Sorry. Um, who's that? Your Dad?"

She sees it for the obvious avoidance it is, but lets him off the hook for now.

"Uh, yeah. Before he, before he died."

"Sorry, again. Man, I just can't get anything right tonight, huh?"

"No, it's okay, really. It's just that- turns out Jimmy knew him and talking about him brought up some memories."

"Uh huh."

She knows that he knows there's more to the story, but he doesn't push, much to her appreciation and surprise. Instead, at the mention of Jimmy that something in his eyes comes back just before he looks away, and she's still left trying to figure it out.

"We kept looking for you, even after Will got nabbed, the Big Guy and I. I had all my best gadgets, but he found you first, because he wasn't afraid to use it."

"Use what?"

"What do you think?"

And then it hits her.

"Your nose?"

"Yeah. It's not one hundred percent yet, I still don't know what turns it on or anything, but maybe if I'd at least tried, we might've been able to find you faster. Then you wouldn't have been sitting there and Jimmy wouldn't have-"

She doesn't know what to think. This guy, who still obviously had problems accepting who, what he was, let alone using what he had, was beating himself up because he hadn't. And- because of her? No, it had to be because of Jimmy. Despite what he'd done to her in the past, the guy had sacrificed himself to save them, and had obviously gone way back with the Sanctuary, that much had been clear.

"No, Henry, you can't do that to yourself. I didn't know him for long, but I do know Jimmy wouldn't have wanted you to beat yourself up like this."

He looks squarely at her then, an unreadable expression on his face now combining with that look in his eyes to make her feel even more uneasy. She was good at reading people, finding tells; it had made the difference between a bullet in the brain and a clean getaway in many of her past endeavors. But this, this was something else entirely.

"Dude, quit looking at me like that, you're starting to freak me out," she jokes, a small smile on her face which quickly fades when he doesn't smile back.

"Henry?"

"It wasn't just Jimmy I was talking about, Kate."

For one of the few times in her life she's speechless. He was beating himself up over not finding her too? How long had it been since anybody, outside the remains of her broken family, cared that much about her? Her aching head boggled at the thought and many others until his voice finally brought her back to reality, breaking the, she then realized, tense silence in the room.

"Well, this is awkward. Yeah, I'm just gonna let myself out now. Sorry for bugging you."

"Hank, wait-"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

There are so many other things she wants to say, but she can't, doesn't know how.

But then he's suddenly smiling, and maybe she was able to say more than she thought she did.

"You're welcome, Kate."

And in a movement almost too quick to be human, she feels a pair of whiskered lips press against her cheek. But before she can react, Henry and his tablet are gone, beef jerky and energy drinks left behind in his seat.

It was then that she noticed a yellow sticky note was attached to the energy drink pack, his familiar chicken scratch wishing her to get well soon with a smiley face.

Pressing her fingers to the lingering warmth on her cheek, she definitely felt better already.


End file.
